December 2004
Intermediate to advanced
921 pages
30h 34m
English
The main purpose of a computer system is to execute programs. These programs, together with the data they access, must be in main memory (at least partially) during execution.
To improve both the utilization of the CPU and the speed of its response to users, the computer must keep several processes in memory. Many memory-management schemes exist, reflecting various approaches, and the effectiveness of each algorithm depends on the situation. Selection of a memory-management scheme for a system depends on many factors, especially on the hardware design of the system. Each algorithm requires its own hardware support.